Daniel Day-Lewis Is Retiring From Acting After Next Paul Thomas Anderson Joint

Alright, that’s it. Pack up the lights. Shut down the studios. Hollywood is over. Daniel Day-Lewis is retiring from acting.

According to Variety, the actor who’s won three Oscars for My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood, and Lincoln, is calling it quits. And this is no mere rumor; the actor’s spokesperson Leslee Dart confirmed the news in a statement to the trade:

Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.

Day-Lewis will have one more project though, which makes his next collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson even more bittersweet. The actor will star in Phantom Threads (what a title!), a period drama set in the couteur fashion world of 1950s London. Based on its Christmas Day release – and the fact that the last time these two worked together, Day-Lewis swooped up the Best Actor Oscar for Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood – you can bet Phantom Threads will be an awards contender. So what’s the deal? Is Day-Lewis hoping to go out on top (as if he could go out any other way) and call it quits after one more Oscar campaign? Or is this just another famous-person-needs-a-vacay-from-Hollywood-so-they-call-it-retirement? Let’s examine the possibilities.

Possibility 1: Daniel Day-Lewis is not quitting acting, he’s just taking a ‘lil break. Day-Lewis diehards – Day-Lewis-ees? Day-Lewies? Someone please establish a proper name for the Day-Lewis fan club – will note that this isn’t the first time the actor has threatened to quit the business. Back in 2013, Day-Lewis reportedly went into a five-year retirement, telling friends he would spent his time on an Irish farm learning “rural skills.” And before that, Leonardo DiCaprio said he had to convince Day-Lewis to come out of retirement for Gangs of New York. Maybe this is just another no-more-acting-for-five-years type of Terrence Malick vanishing. Remember that time Steven Soderbergh retired? Remember that time Jay Z retired? Yeah, ‘retirement’ is an illusion, folks.

Possibility 2: Daniel Day-Lewis is preparing for a role… as an actor who’s quitting acting. What would be a more method actor move than that? He probably pulling a Joaquin Phoenix I’m Still Here, only without the rapping.

Possibility 3: He’s done with acting, but maybe he’ll write or direct. His rep technically didn’t say the Oscar winner was retiring only that he won’t be working as an actor. One can only hope.

Possibility 4: Daniel Day-Lewis is actually retiring for good. If that’s the case, it means we’re losing one of our greatest dramatic performers. Better drink up a big glass of whiskey. Or maybe a milkshake.